A lot of fans from Kazakhstan has been following the Singer 2017 series on GrateNews. Like them, we are also looking forward to the performances of Dimash and other singers on the fifth season of the reality show week after week. This week, Dimash takes on Italian song ‘Adagio’ with window-shattering vocal octaves while Sandy whips the crowd up into a frenzy with her punk rock look and rock number.

Here’s a break down of the contestants’ performances in Singer 2017 episode 6 of the competition (in order of appearance):

1. Zhang Jie 张杰 – 哥哥

Zhang Jie is getting better week after week. Like a good bottle of aged wine, Zhang Jie’s performance in recent rounds is full of depth and subtlety. In Singer 2017 episode 6, he cruised through the song 哥哥, showing his maturity in handling emotional songs and his good vocal control. Although his results wasn’t fantastic, the Zhang Jie in this season is definitely better from the one in Season 2.

Zhang Jie

2. Terry Lin 林志炫 – Writing’s On The Wall

After a lacklustre return to the stage of Singer 2017 in the first round, Terry Lin takes on Sam Smith’s Writing’s On The Wall, the theme song for James Bond 007 – Spectre. One of our favourite songs from Sam Smith, we don’t have a good feeling about the performance even before Terry started. To be fair, Terry did a decent attempt on the song. Even though he wasn’t perfect on diction, he more than make it up with his beautiful vocal mix and falsettos.

Terry Lin

3. Justin Lo 侧田 – 很想很想说再见

We respect Justin as a songwriter, but as a performer, he is quirky and on the border of being weird. He is full of expressions, not necessarily good ones, and has that nasal reverberation that bothers us quite a bit. But one thing’s for sure, he stays true to his style and doesn’t bother too much about what others think. Unfortunately for him, the audience don’t feel the same way as him and he is out of the competition after coming in last from the combined scores of the last 2 rounds.

4. Dimash 迪玛希 – Adagio

After performing in French, Russian, Mandarin and English, the competitive Dimash is taking on Enhlish version of the Italian song ‘Adagio’ for Singer 2017 episode 6. Not only that, he also played the piano for the first part of the famous song co-written and sung by Lara Fabian. If this is a competition about who has the biggest vocal range, Dimash wins hands down. This man is just impossible! We are not experts here but he probably scaled many octaves (we are counting 4) during his showcase. However, his diction is off and his rendition feels detached emotionally unlike Lara Fabian’s. But it is still a must watch performance just to listen to his strong and insanely high falsettos. We had an interesting conversation about Dimash with a friend yesterday on how he is getting ‘lost’ in search for his personal style and his weird song choices. This performance is probably going to be a stop-gap performance for him.

5. Sandy Lam 林忆莲 – 盛夏光年

Many have forgotten that Sandy Lam started her career with a lot of dance hits and upbeat numbers. Although she is known better for her emotional ballads, Sandy still has her mojo for upbeat songs. Even for a melody as repetitive as 盛夏光年, Sandy never disappoints. Showing her good rhythmic sense and vocal control, Sandy who is consistently in the top 3 every week came in third this round.

Sandy Lam

6. Lion 狮子合唱团 – 用情

We have been disappointed with Lion since the start of the competition. Or more correctly, with Jam Hsiao. To us, rock is not just about have a few rifts on electric guitar, there is a certain attitude, a certain motivation. Lion led by Jam Hsiao lacks that natural spirit that embodies a rock band and we are not even going to try to pigeon hole the band into pop-rock or heartland rock. Jam on vocals for the last few episodes exposed his vocal flaws, musicality and the lack of emotional delivery. We don’t connect with his performances and will struggle to stay on the competition is the band don’t find their ‘magic’ fast.

Friends of Ivan call him an over-achiever. He is an avid traveller, tech geek and a foodie. Always on the lookout for travel destinations, experiences, gadgets and new dishes to surprise his taste buds, Ivan is also an avid photographer, vocalist and guitar player wannabe.